Mountaintop Mining in Virginia's Blue Ridge?
Posted August 27, 2009 in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places, Solving Global Warming
The state motto is "Virginia is for Lovers", and Virginians sure love their mountains. Think about what might happen if a coal company proposed to blow up peaks in the beloved Blue Ridge range? No way, no how -- there would be an uproar and outright revolt before anyone allowed the destruction of those storied mountians.
But make no mistake, mountaintop removal is happening in my native state. Look to the coalfields in the far southwestern corner of the Old Dominion, where 50 mountains have been lost already -- that's 10% of the roughly 500 mountaintops leveled thus far! There lies sleepy, bucolic Wise County, ground zero in the fight to stop the coal industry from razing Appalachia.
The book Something's Rising describes the view confronting anyone crossing over the border from Kentucky:
After dozens of stomach-churning curves, a small sign announces that the Virginia state line has been crossed. And suddenly, everything changes. Now there is a moonscape below, a barren wasteland of dirt and exposed rocks and yellow bulldozers. From near the summit of Black Mountain can be seen a mountaintop removal site that stretches itself brazenly above the town of Appalachia, Virginia, and it looks like a scar on the face of the earth...Where once there was a mountain here in Virginia, now there is a deep, dead hole.
The good news is that a feisty and effective band of citizens is working to protect Wise County communities from the ravages of rapacious coal companies. The group Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards (SAMS) is leading the charge. To learn more about SAMS and its noble cause, take a moment to listen to this excellent podcast in which Kathy Selvage of SAMS tells the story of the fight to save Virginia's mountains and the towns nestled amongst them. You can also see Kathy's story on this YouTube video.
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Comments
D. Wilson — Aug 28 2009 10:37 AM
I don't disagree with the gist of this column but want to offer a wee correction. Virginia's DMME / DMLR rarely grants outright permits for mountaintop removal. From the vantage point you mention (top of Black Mountain), the lost peaks occurred from regular (AOC) permits with frequent amendments so that one 'job' gets enlarged and eventually meets up with another. The net result is the same but is more the result of 'creeping permititis.' The area is too far from any significant highway for the industry to claim that the flattened land could serve a beneficial post-mined use per MTR requirements.
Readers should also note that Hwy 160 (connecting VA and KY atop Black Mtn.) appears to be at risk of collapse from old and new cuts as well as preliminary work for a new permit application. There are many (esp. in KY) who need that route to reach VA for specialized medical care.